Managing external influencesA First Group case study

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Page 1: Introduction

We all make use of the services provided by transportation companies. For example, you will probably have caught the bus into town or travelled on a school bus or made an intercity journey by train. Some of you may have travelled on a super green energy-efficient tram or used a Park & Ride bus service.

FirstGroup plc (known as First) is the UK's largest surface transportation company. It has revenues of over £5 billion a year. It employs over 137,000 staff throughout the UK and North America and moves more than 2.5 billion passengers a year.

First is the largest UK rail operator carrying almost 275 million passengers every year. This is one quarter of the passenger network. First operates rail passenger services, which include regional, intercity and commuter services such as First Great Western, First TransPennine Express, First Capital Connect, First ScotRail and Hull Trains.

First is Britain's largest bus operator running more than one in five of all local bus services. A fleet of nearly 9,000 buses carries around three million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities, such as Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.

The company also operates First GBRf, a rail freight business and the Croydon Tramlink network which carries almost 26 million passengers a year.

In North America, First is the largest provider of student transportation carrying nearly 4 million students every day.

First is the leader in providing reliable, safe, innovative and sustainable transport services. Although First is a global business, it aims to be local in its approach. This means that local issues are dealt with by people that largely live and work in that location. This ensures a clearer understanding of what needs to happen and a more prompt response.